The Friendly Leftyhttps://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com
Everything or nothing. All of us or none.Tue, 24 Apr 2018 03:00:40 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/d4e88d257bb3a6124bb8a174298178fc?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngThe Friendly Leftyhttps://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com
Comrades: looking for inspiration?https://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/comrades-looking-for-inspiration/
https://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/comrades-looking-for-inspiration/#respondThu, 24 Jan 2013 11:13:43 +0000http://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com/?p=1816I’ve found some in this picture. Now let’s go to work.

Following his operation in Cuba on Wednesday, the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign sends its best wishes to Hugo Chavez in his latest battle to defeat cancer

Hugo Chavez is an inspiration to millions of people worldwide because of his uncompromising stance against injustice and oppression and the tremendous progress he has overseen In Venezuela.

It is incredibly positive that his latest operation has been deemed an initial success.

However as President Chavez and Vice President Nicolas Maduro have explained there remains a long and difficult path ahead.

Our thoughts are with President Chavez, his family and all those Venezuelans who have made their country a beacon of hope and inspiration. At this difficult time, we commit ourselves to stepping up our solidarity with Venezuela’s attempt to build a better world and against those who seek to overturn this social progress.

]]>https://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/chomsky-on-israeli-self-defence/feed/0friendlyleftychomsky israelIsrael promises more terror in Gazahttps://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/israel-promises-more-terror-in-gaza/
https://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/israel-promises-more-terror-in-gaza/#commentsThu, 15 Nov 2012 11:48:56 +0000http://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com/?p=1791With a clear green light from the US today, Israel will not be backing down from its military assault on Gaza. With a dozen dead including two children, and many more injured, the attacks have attracted international condemnation, all except for those in the West who have taken to stressing the need for Israel to defend itself from crude home-made and almost completely symbolic rockets. So escalation on yesterday’s blitz should be expected.

In a clear indication that Obama’s re-election means more of the same war-mongering that characterised his first term, Russia Today has reported:

US Ambassador Susan Rice got behind Israel during the UN session, saying that there is no justification “for the violence that Hamas and other terrorist organizations are employing against the people of Israel.”

The breathtaking hypocrisy of this statement, as bombs fall on Gaza and shatter the bodies of Palestinians, will not go unnoticed by the rest of the world. The Russia Today report adds:

Netanyahu’s office said that he “deeply appreciated” the president’s support.

I bet he has. It’s nice being able to call on the leader of the most powerful military force in the world just after you’ve committed indiscriminate murder.

In London, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign have called for a demonstration tonight outside the Israeli embassy. Details here.

On the nauseating political doublespeak scale, David Cameron’s claim to “support the Arab spring” on a trip to sell weapons to Gulf dictators this week hit a new low. No stern demands for free elections from the autocrats of Arabia – or calls for respect for human rights routinely dished out even to major powers like Russia and China.

As the kings and emirs crack down on democratic protest, the prime minister assured them of his “respect and friendship”. Different countries, he explained soothingly in Abu Dhabi, needed “different paths, different timetables” on the road to reform: countries that were western allies, spent billions on British arms and sat on some of the world’s largest oil reserves in particular, he might have added by way of explanation.

Seumas Milne on the UK backing for repression and torture in the Middle East.

]]>https://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com/2012/11/07/the-gulf-protection-racket-is-corrupt-and-dangerous-folly/feed/1friendlyleftyMajority of Israeli Jews would favour apartheidhttps://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/majority-of-israeli-jews-would-favour-apartheid/
https://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/majority-of-israeli-jews-would-favour-apartheid/#respondTue, 23 Oct 2012 09:34:10 +0000http://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com/?p=1786A new survey out today reveals that 59% of Israeli Jews would favour a formal apartheid system of Government if the West Bank were to be completely annexed.

The majority of the Jewish public, 59 percent, wants preference for Jews over Arabs in admission to jobs in government ministries. Almost half the Jews, 49 percent, want the state to treat Jewish citizens better than Arab ones; 42 percent don’t want to live in the same building with Arabs and 42 percent don’t want their children in the same class with Arab children.

A third of the Jewish public wants a law barring Israeli Arabs from voting for the Knesset and a large majority of 69 percent objects to giving 2.5 million Palestinians the right to vote if Israel annexes the West Bank.

A sweeping 74 percent majority is in favor of separate roads for Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. A quarter – 24 percent – believe separate roads are “a good situation” and 50 percent believe they are “a necessary situation.”

In what should be a constant rebuke to those who demonise supporters of Palestinian rights for using the rhetoric of apartheid, the report also notes that:

Although the territories have not been annexed, most of the Jewish public (58 percent ) already believes Israel practices apartheid against Arabs. Only 31 percent think such a system is not in force here.

Israeli Jews weren’t born supporting such inhuman policies. They have been conditioned to do so by decades of brutal colonial expansion and aggression conducted in their name.

Despite illusions on the left, and complaints from the right that Labour’s economic policy has not been spelled out, in fact the position is entirely clear – the essential thrust of the Coalition’s austerity policies will be maintained. The only concession to concerns about the impact of the cuts is an entirely unclear promise that under Labour the cuts would be ‘fairer’, and that the pace of cuts would be marginally slowed.